A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Starting as a Sword-Forging Servant and Ascending to Immorta

Zhou Lingxuan asked the question very softly, but it echoed in the empty fire chamber.

Chen Baichuan raised his head and stared at Zhou Lingxuan for a long while.

"help?"

Chen Baichuan frowned deeply.

"How are you going to help? Go to the Enforcement Hall and beat the drum for me? Or sneak into his yard in the middle of the night and kill him?"

Zhou Lingxuan tucked his hands into his sleeves and took a step forward.

"I'm just a blacksmith, I don't understand the intricacies of your inner sect."

Zhou Lingxuan looked at the bronze furnace that had been smashed into a crater.

"But the old man knew that you have to strike while the iron is hot and weed out the roots."

"Since Li Yuan dared to tamper with military supplies, it means he has already paved the way for his escape. If you go to check the accounts and investigate the people now, you will only find dead ends."

"Since the rules on the surface don't work, let's go through the underhanded."

Zhou Lingxuan spoke calmly, as if he were talking about something trivial.

"The old man stayed in the abandoned hall, a marginal figure that no one paid attention to. In that abandoned hall, hundreds or thousands of pounds of waste come and go every day. Whether there are more or less people, more or less things, no one can keep track."

"If you trust me, this old man can take care of this for you. No need to alarm the Enforcement Hall, no need to beat the Heavenly Drum. I guarantee it will be spotless, not even a bone fragment will be left."

Chen Baichuan gasped after hearing this.

He looked at the old man with gray hair and a face full of wrinkles, and a chill inexplicably ran down his spine.

The old man said he was going to kill a deputy hall master in the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, and he said it as casually as if he were talking about killing a chicken!

Chen Baichuan swallowed.

"What are you after?" Chen Baichuan stared at Zhou Lingxuan's face. "What are you trying to gain by meddling in the internal strife of the Weaponry Hall, a useless hall manager?"

"Just want some peace and quiet." Zhou Lingxuan smiled.

"I don't know anyone in the inner sect, but you're one. We're both blacksmiths, so we get along well. If you fall and Li Yuan takes the throne, things will definitely be tough for the Abandoned Hall."

"Besides, you even dared to threaten to cut off supplies to the equipment shop just to keep me in this position. I'm indebted to you for that."

Zhou Lingxuan patted his sleeves.

"It's only right to lend a helping hand to a friend in need."

friend.

These two words left Chen Baichuan stunned for a long time.

He was a Golden Core stage elder, a powerful figure in the Weaponry Hall, with people lining up to curry favor with him from the mountain gate to the back mountain. But weren't all of them after the resources he controlled?

Now, an old, untrained servant from the outer sect stands before him and says, "A friend in trouble, lend a hand."

Chen Baichuan suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

He suddenly stood up, vigorously rubbed his face, and wiped away that sentimental emotion completely.

"fart!"

Chen Baichuan cursed loudly, his spittle almost landing on Zhou Lingxuan's face.

"I am a dignified elder of the Weaponry Hall, when did it become your turn, a useless steward, to take the blame for me?!"

Zhou Lingxuan didn't dodge; she just quietly watched him.

After Chen Baichuan finished cursing, his chest heaved violently a few times, and his tone softened slightly.

"I appreciate your kindness. But you absolutely cannot interfere in this matter."

Chen Baichuan stretched out a finger and pointed it at Zhou Lingxuan's nose.

"You think the inner sect is like your menial quarters? You think killing a deputy hall master and burying him is all you have to do?"

"Li Yuan is at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm! His natal soul lamp is enshrined in the Ancestral Hall! If he were to die in the sect for no reason, and his soul lamp went out, those mad dogs in the Enforcement Hall could turn the entire Weaponry Hall upside down within half an hour!"

Chen Baichuan became more and more serious as he spoke, his face taut with tension.

"At that time, not only will you, a useless steward, be skinned alive, but I will be too!"

Zhou Lingxuan did not refute.

He was well aware of the issue of soul lamps for Golden Core cultivators, and what he said earlier was merely to test Chen Baichuan's bottom line.

If Chen Baichuan is truly blinded by hatred and agrees, then Zhou Lingxuan will turn around and leave, never to have a close relationship with him again.

A fool who can't even see the big picture and could drag his allies down with him at any moment is not worth cooperating with.

But now it seems that Chen Baichuan is very clear-headed.

"The internal strife within the Weapon Hall is not a street fight; it's a power struggle among high-level officials."

Chen Baichuan walked back and forth a couple of times in the underground fire chamber with his hands behind his back.

"I already broke the rules by forcibly making you the steward of the abandoned hall. Elder Li must have held a grudge against me, and he might make up for it anytime soon."

"If you get involved in the Hall of Weapons' mess again, that bastard Li Yuan is just looking for something to do with me. He only needs to pull a little strings to drag you into it, and then the Hall of Enforcement will get involved, and you won't even know how you died!"

Chen Baichuan stopped and looked directly at Zhou Lingxuan.

"This is the sect's bottom line. No one from the outer hall is allowed to interfere in the power transition within the inner eight halls. Anyone who does will die."

Zhou Lingxuan nodded slightly.

Chen Baichuan's words were insightful and practical.

There were no lofty lectures, only heartfelt truths.

This old bear may seem short-tempered and easily angered, but he's actually very perceptive. He can distinguish between what's important and what's urgent, and he can also stick to his principles.

He is someone worth getting to know better.

"So what do you plan to do?" Zhou Lingxuan asked. "Just sit back and watch him climb up the ladder?"

"Just watch?" Chen Baichuan sneered. "If Li Yuan wants to climb to the top by stepping on my shoulders, he'll have to see if he's tough enough!"

Chen Baichuan walked to the bronze furnace and reached out to touch the crater he had made.

"He wants to play dirty, doesn't he? Fine, I'll play along."

"I've been in the supply depot for almost a hundred years. The orders, connections, and resources I hold are more than the rice he's eaten! Does he think he can bring me down by messing up the supply chain once?"

Chen Baichuan turned his head, the gloom on his face vanished, replaced by an aura of dominance over the entire situation.

"I'm going to see the old master tomorrow. Doesn't Li Yuan like studying array patterns? I'll suggest giving him the lucrative job of forging flying swords for Jianfeng next month!"

"If he takes the job, I'll show him what a shortage of materials and manpower really means! If he messes it up, I'll skin him alive!"

"If he doesn't accept, I'll curse him in front of the whole hall as a good-for-nothing who occupies a position without doing anything! Let's see how he'll ever have the face to compete for the position of hall master again!"

Chen Baichuan's voice grew louder and louder, making the walls of the underground fire chamber vibrate.

"Within the rules, I have a hundred ways to crush him!"

After hearing this, Zhou Lingxuan's lips curled up slightly.

This is the kind of approach a powerful elder should take.

Do not act impulsively or overstep boundaries; use the resources and power at your disposal to crush your opponents in a fair and square manner.

"Since Elder Chen knows what's going on, then this old man won't say anything more."

Zhou Lingxuan cupped his hands in greeting.

"It's almost dawn. There's still a pile of scrap metal waiting to be dealt with over at the abandoned hall. I have to go back now."

Chen Baichuan waved his hand.

"Get out of here. Don't ask about the affairs of the Weapon Hall anymore. I'm not dead yet, it's not your place to take the blame."

Zhou Lingxuan turned and walked towards the stone gate.

Chen Baichuan watched his retreating figure and suddenly called out.

"Why!"

Zhou Lingxuan stopped in his tracks.

"Regarding tonight..." Chen Baichuan paused, his tone somewhat awkward, "Thanks."

If Zhou Lingxuan hadn't stopped him, he might have actually slapped Li Yuan to death. Then, even if he was in the right, he would have been wrong, and his life would have been completely ruined.

Zhou Lingxuan didn't turn around, he just waved his hand.

"Friends, after all."

Chen Baichuan paused for a moment, then grinned and smiled silently.

Zhou Lingxuan walked to the stone gate and placed his hand on the groove of the array.

The stone door emitted a dull groan as it slowly slid open to the sides.

The sky outside was already beginning to lighten, and the cool morning wind, carrying the dampness of dew, rushed towards us.

Zhou Lingxuan stepped out of the threshold.

Just as the stone gate was about to close again, he suddenly stopped.

Zhou Lingxuan turned his head and looked at Chen Baichuan standing beside the bronze furnace.

Elder Chen.

"What is it now?" Chen Baichuan frowned.

Zhou Lingxuan pointed to the bronze furnace in the center of the underground fire chamber, which had been smashed into a crater.

"I won't get involved in the internal strife within the weapon-making hall."

"However, there is one thing I can still help with."